The government on July 13 decided to extend the Self-Defense Forces’ anti-piracy mission in the waters off Somalia for another year, despite the fact that the mission had little effect in reducing incidents of piracy in the area.

The Japanese Communist Party on July 18 held a meeting in Tokyo to celebrate the 90-year anniversary of its founding (July 15, 1922). JCP Chair Shii Kazuo and Director of the JCP-affiliated Social Sciences Institute Fuwa Tetsuzo spoke before the audience of 2,100, viewers on the Internet, and JCP members via Intranet broadcasting.

A nightmare scenario in which a tilt-rotor aircraft Osprey crashes into a nuclear power plant may actually come about. In fact, a crash of a U.S. military airplane that killed all crewmembers happened near the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture 24 years ago.